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I love this movie so much

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The origin of The Invisible Man films goes back to H.G. Wells'1897 short novel. In the early 1940s, Universal sponsored a series if films relating to The Invisible Man, after their initial offering in 1933. These include "The Invisible Man Returns" 1940, "The Invisible Woman" 1940, "The Invisible Agent" 1942, and "The Invisible Man's Revenge"1944. I haven't yet seen any of these, but "The Invisible Woman" is generally classed as a comedy, along with the present film, which includes a serious plot, sprinkled with typical A&C shenanigans. A related topic is free ranging ghosts and other types of spirits, whose bodies have been permanently lost through death. In contrast, The Invisible Man has a body and soul, but has achieved invisibility through human inventiveness or perhaps the dark arts. Furthermore, his invisibility is usually reversible. Being present in spirit but not body is a common human fantasy. Such a power could be used to escape from a bad situation, or to achieve a good desired result. On the other hand, it can be used to facilitate the accomplishment of evil deeds. This was true of Griffin: the invisible man in Well's novel, who became a true monster. In contrast, in the present story, Tommy is not a monster. Mainly, he wants to use his invisibility to help solve the murder of his trainer manager.. Toward this goal, he also enlists the help of A&C, recent graduates of Dogan's Detective Training class(DDT). In Wells' novel, it is Griffin who both discovers the formula, and uses it for evil deeds, whereas in this film, Tommy obtains his specific serum from his girlfriend's father, who is a doctor and experimenter. Expect A&C's standard repertoire of verbal humor, sight gags, and slapstick. An example of sight humor: Abbott tells Lou, holding a gun, to "Let him have it". Lou gives the gun to the bad guy! An example of verbal humor: In a restaurant, Abbott pulls invisible Tommy's Champaign glass toward himself. When the waiter queries, Abbott says "I'm a two fisted drinker". Probably, the climax of the film occurs with the boxing match between Rocky and Lou(Louie the Looper)plus invisible Tommy. Nobody can believe what they see, with Rocky being knocked around by a seemingly invisible force emanating from Lou. Tommy seemingly abandons Lou for periods during the fight, but comes back to finish off Rocky, whereas Lou was supposed to throw the fight, as pressured by the gangsters sponsoring Rocky. They come to 'get' Lou after the fight, but get taken themselves.Sexy blond, but bad, Adele Jenkins, as Boots Marsden, flirts with Lou, trying to get him to see things from the Gangster's viewpoint. The other woman in the story is bland Nancy Guild, as Helen Gray, Tommy's girlfriend... Sheldon Leonard plays Gangster Moran: Boots' boyfriend... William Frawley is occasionally present , as detective Roberts, who is looking for Tommy, and doesn't believe various tales of an invisible Tommy(why should he!). A recurring joke is that various people are sent to a psychiatrist when they report experiencing an invisible person.

The great special effects regarding the "Invisible Man" "gags" are outstanding and almost over-power the entire movie. Costello is quite a bit thinner here than he is was in 1948, in their "Frankenstein" monster classic. Typical A&C routines abound. As usual, almost everyone thinks Costello is "seeing things" and is imagining an invisible man. As always, Lou is taken advantage of by the "pretty woman" and Bud gets ignored completely. The film is so well-cast that it is superior to many Bud and Lou movies. Supporting actors include: William Frawley, Sheldon Leonard, and Arthur Franz. A lot of fun for all. Cute ending, as Lou disappears for a short time and re-appears with his feet on backwards.(Note: no playback problems in this 2015 four movie re-issue.)

Not the very best, Meet Frankenstein is my personal favourite and was their to me their last truly great one. Afterwards their films didn't reach the level set by Meet Frankenstein and their earlier outings but there were a few that did come close. The best one being Meet the Invisible Man, which, personally and to by the looks of it a few others, of the Meet...films is bettered only by Meet Frankenstein(Meet Jekyll and Hyde was fun though too). There is very little actually that's wrong actually, for personal tastes a couple of parts are ever so slightly rushed and the ending was more grotesque than funny and the special effects in that scene were very slapdash, a let down after being so impressed by the rest of the special effects in the film. The plot is silly and on the thin side, but that can be forgotten and forgiven if the material is good and that is the case with Meet the Invisible Man.Actually the material is more than good, it's great and the best parts are the funniest of Abbott and Costello's later films. The dialogue is smartly written throughout and makes one laugh so much that there's the danger of missing something(Costello has the best lines) and the gags and slapstick while a tad overdone(again forgivable as that is part of the charm with Abbott and Costello) similarly delightful. The highlight of the film is, agreed, the boxing match but the dinner and Abbott's drunk act scenes stand out too. From a technical standpoint, Meet the Invisible Man impresses, it's well shot and has an appropriate setting but especially good were the special effects which not only look good but are especially for the Invisible Man some of the most ingenious of all their films. The score has the right amount of jauntiness and the film is briskly directed. The supporting cast are solid as rocks with Sheldon Leonard faring best but it's Abbott and Costello, as they rightly should, who steal the show. Abbott plays it straight effectively and Costello proves that being bumbling can be hilarious.To conclude, Meet the Invisible Man is A&C's best film of the 50s, the second best of the Meet...films after Meet Frankenstein and it's one of their better outings overall without being towards the top. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Our intrepid bumbling duo deliver the goods in one of the better offerings on their considerable CV. Here they are freshly qualified Private Investigators thrust into a murder investigation with an invisible man. That alone should tell you that the fun flows at a very decent clip, so with that I just need to say that some of the sequences here are comedy gold. Like a scene at a restaurant that is excellent, or Costello pretending to work the ball in the gym, and a final reel of a boxing match that really gets the laughter flowing. Watching these guys act as if with a real invisible man is wonderful, and of course the effects team also deserve praise for doing such a damn fine job with the invisible man of the piece.Not quite as good as...Meet Frankenstein, but it's darn near close. 8/10